Legislative Program

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM -- (House of Representatives - July 15, 2004)

(Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the majority leader, for the purposes of informing us of next week's schedule.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished whip, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), for yielding to me.

Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Monday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We will consider several measures under suspension of the rules. A final list of these measures will be sent to Members' offices by the end of the week. Any votes on these measures will be rolled until after 6:30 p.m.

On Tuesday and the balance of the week, we expect to consider additional legislation under suspension of the rules. We also plan to consider several bills under a rule: the fiscal year 2005 District of Columbia appropriations bill; H.R. 4837, the fiscal year 2005 Military Construction appropriations bill; H.R. 4842, the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement; H.R. 3574, the Stock Option Accounting Reform Act; and H.R. 3313, the Marriage Protection Act.

Finally, I would like to note that we are expecting a very busy week heading into the August recess. Members should expect to work some late nights and possibly into Friday evening as we resolve these important pieces of legislation.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and will be happy to answer any questions he may have.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his information.

Mr. Speaker, the majority leader mentioned two appropriations bills, the District of Columbia and the Military Construction bill. Can the gentleman give me an estimate, if he knows, of what days those two bills will be considered?

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield.

Mr. HOYER. I yield to my friend.

Mr. DeLAY. I would expect to see the stock options bill legislation and the D.C. and Military Construction appropriations bills earlier in the week. The U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement and the Marriage Protection Act would be Thursday or Friday.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman said the Morocco Free Trade will be early or later?

Mr. DeLAY. Later.

Mr. HOYER. Later.

Mr. DeLAY. Thursday or Friday.

Mr. HOYER. The gentleman anticipated my two questions, I see.

The conference reports, will we be considering the DOD appropriations conference report next week?

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield.

Mr. HOYER. I yield to my friend.

Mr. DeLAY. I have every expectation that the DOD conference will be finished and ready to go and voted on sometime next week, but I am not advised as to when during the week that we might anticipate voting on it.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, there has been a lot of discussion, and I have read some things in the newspaper and heard discussions, about the child tax credit bill which has been pending for some time in conference.

Can the gentleman tell me whether or not there is an intention to move that out of conference; and, if so, what condition will it be in in terms of what will there be in the bill, if the gentleman knows, in addition to the originally passed child tax credit? I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. We have been working to extend the child tax credit, the 10 percent tax bracket, and the marriage penalty tax relief provisions from the 2001 and 2003 tax bills. I would anticipate that the bill, well, I cannot say what else might be in the bill. The conference has yet to be called into a meeting, but in discussions with the other body, it seems to be that most want to keep this bill as simple as possible; and I hope we can find a way to send these tax measures to the President before the August recess.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, does the gentleman have a view that if there was some disagreement and an agreement could not be reached on the other matters above and beyond the child tax credit, would the gentleman's expectation be that the child tax credit might be moved independently? Could the gentleman see a scenario that would result in that? I yield to my friend.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, that is speculation and I hate to speculate, but I know that this House has voted several times on these issues, and I know that the House wants to see a 10 percent tax bracket, the marriage penalty, and the child tax credit provisions to be extended and funded; and I would tend to think that the bill would have to come back with at least those provisions in it.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3313, what day does the gentleman anticipate we will consider this bill? That is the Defense of Marriage Act. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. I expect that that will come on Thursday. As the gentleman knows, sometimes these appropriations bills take longer than we anticipate. If they do, then it could be pushed over into Friday, but our intention is to bring that bill to the floor on Thursday.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would hope that during the consideration of the child tax credit, assuming the conference is going to meet, that our conferees be included in that conference. As the gentleman knows, we feel pretty strongly about the fact that if conferences are held, those Democratic conferees that have been appointed by the Speaker need to be invited and to be able to participate in those. So I would urge that to occur when and if that conference is convened.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield.

Mr. HOYER. I am glad to yield.

Mr. DeLAY. I would have every reason to believe that if we can get the other body to call the meeting, then, surely, the Democrats on the conference committee, along with the Republicans, would all have invitations to that meeting.

Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman, and I yield back the balance of my time.